There are, in fact, hundreds of articles about the case. I've read a good many. I'll be completely transparent. I believe Fr. MacRae was railroaded, not only by prosecutors, but by psychologists, false witnesses, and even representatives of the church. Having said that, it's hard to know the truth of any allegation when there are no witnesses to the alleged crime and most of the evidence is "he said; she said". Who's telling the truth?
I recall the daycare alleged abuse cases reported on in the same time period as Fr. MacRae's alleged sex abuse of minors. Providers around the country were accused of satanic practices, torturing and abusing animals in front of the children, physical sex abuse, etc. The feeding frenzy went on for months.The priest sex abuse cases came to light around the same time and attracted every legal shark in the water. The Church coffers offered a treasure trove from Aladdin's cave and plenty of lawyers started counting the money. Conjuring up false accusations was not uncommon. Hysteria was the norm. I know two priests accused in my own diocese who were later exonerated, but they are forever tainted and their ministry was irreparably damaged. Their innocence didn't attract nearly as much attention as the accusations of guilt! They still come up as accused on some websites. I know another priest who was convinced by the diocesan attorney to plead guilty under a plea deal despite always claiming his innocence. He's dead now and went to his grave under a cloud. That same diocesan lawyer tried to get some friends and me to plead guilty to trespassing when Call to Action invaded our churches and we protested, interrupted a meeting, refused to leave, and were arrested. But that's another story.
So who's telling the truth?
Don't get me wrong. Any sex abuse of children is monstrous and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But it should be a fair trial. When a case involves withholding exculpatory evidence and building a case to reach a pre-conceived verdict...well...how would you feel if you were the target? Throw in big bucks motivation, the possibility of a high profile guilty verdict to boost a prosecutor's career, bias against the Catholic Church....?Add it all up and see what you come up with.
Dorothy Rabinowitz, an award-winning reporter who researched the day care cases, also researched the case against Fr. MacRae. A number of other investigative reporters did the same. Many concluded that Fr. MacRae was the victim of a "Kafkaesque trial."
If you read the Wee Care Case involving child abuse accusations against day care worker Kelly Michaels [Nightmare at the Day Care: the Wee Care Case], you can see the similarities in the actions of the prosecution in New Hampshire against Fr. MacRae. As for the psychological evaluations saying Fr. MacRae was a "fixated sexual offender," how reliable were they? Decide for yourself by reading Ryan MacDonald's Weaponized Psychology: The Psych Evals of Father MacRae. MacDonald brought up an issue my blog reader used to "prove" Fr. MacRae's guilt -- his guilty plea. Here's what MacDonald wrote about that:
It has been professionally suggested that a diagnosis of untreated epilepsy and complex partial seizure disorder that was difficult to manage [diagnosed during Fr. MacRae's year long stay at Villa Louis Martin] raised further questions about the legitimacy of the priest’s 1988 misdemeanor plea entered into without legal counsel after hours of intense badgering by a police detective with an agenda other than truth. This was disclosed in my article one week ago.
I'm not posting any more long-winded comments about how guilty Fr. MacRae is. In fact, I'm closing this post to comments altogether. Readers can do the research for themselves. All the information mentioned by my anonymous commenter appeared to come from SNAP and the Bishop Accountability website, neither of which I trust; although I read them.
Based on everything I've researched, I believe Fr. MacRae and think he was railroaded in, dare I say, a satanic (not human) conspiracy. The reader who commented came to an opposite conclusion. He also made some pretty harsh conclusions about me. (No hard feelings, friend. People like you are an answer to the humility prayer I pray almost every day.)
If you want to wade into the morass, there's plenty of material out there. Here are the two I mentioned at the beginning of the post. There are hundreds more.
PDF of New Hampshire Attorney General Report
Sexual abuse – or justice abused? A priest’s tale
Perhaps my blog reader and I can agree on one thing. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit shines the light of truth on every abuse case so that both the guilty and the innocent receive God's perfect justice!
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